Coral Gunning

Coral Gunning
Coral Gunning, from a 1937 publication
Born
Coral Tottie Gunning

August 12, 1915
Perth, Australia
DiedJune 25, 1998 (age 82)
Perth, Australia
OccupationsSinger, entertainer

Coral Tottie Gunning (August 12, 1915[1] – June 25, 1998) was an Australian entertainer. She sang, played musical instruments, and did celebrity impersonations for live audiences, radio broadcasts, and recordings.

Early life and education

Gunning was born in Perth, the daughter of Dudley John Gunning and Violet Mary Gunning.[2] Her mother and grandmother were also entertainers; Gunning and her mother sometimes performed together.[3]

Career

In the 1930s, beginning in her teens, Gunning had a cabaret act, singing, playing accordion, piano, and guitar, and doing impersonations of Hollywood celebrities including Mae West, Greta Garbo, and Janet Gaynor.[4] She won a Melbourne amateur talent contest in 1935,[5][6] and toured in Australia and internationally through the 1940s[7][8] and into the 1950s.[9][10] She also made recordings and performed on radio broadcasts.[11][12] She appeared in panto shows and a short film in England in 1937,[13] and entertained troops and visited hospitals in Australia and England during World War II.[14][15][16] She spent eighteen months performing in India after independence.[17]

Later in life, Gunning founded Music on Wheels, a nonprofit based in Adelaide to encourage lonely people with visiting musicians. "Miss Gunning has donated [the] proceeds of her home and money from many of her antiques collected from hears of world travels towards the financing of Music on Wheels," noted a 1973 profile.[18] She was interviewed by John Robinson for the Musicians' Union of Australia in the 1980s.[19] She donated her papers to the J S Battye Library in 1990.[9][20]

Personal life and legacy

Gunning died in 1998, at the age of 82, in Perth. The Australian band Original Past Life named a song "Coral Gunning" after her, and recorded other songs based on her life; their 2016 album The Times of Ceylon features an image of Gunning as its cover.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Family Notices". Sunday Times (Perth). No. 919. Western Australia. 15 August 1915. p. 1 (First Section). Retrieved 4 January 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Lady Hamilton's Descendant; Coral Gunning's Famous Relations". Sydney Morning Herald. 26 June 1941. p. 19. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  3. ^ Richardson, Nixie (18 September 1947). "It's the Gipsy in the Them". The Western Mail. p. 10. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Coral Gunning at Luxor". Daily News. 12 April 1937. p. 5. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  5. ^ "Melbourne Girl for Films". Record. 21 September 1935. p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  6. ^ "Coral Captured Radio Award". Truth. 3 January 1937. p. 21. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  7. ^ "Radio Round-up at Bridgetown; Coral Gunning in Metropolitan Show". Bridgetown Advocate. 31 May 1946. p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Coral Gunning Returns". ABC Weekly. 17 June 1944. p. 12 – via Trove.
  9. ^ a b Bollen, Jonathan (6 May 2020). Touring Variety in the Asia Pacific Region, 1946–1975. Springer Nature. pp. 3, 18 note 5. ISBN 978-3-030-39411-0.
  10. ^ "Coral Gunning". The Indian Listener: 60. 24 June 1950.
  11. ^ "Coral Gunning to Appear at Nettlefolds Dance Tomorrow Night". Sunshine Advocate. 26 June 1936. p. 3. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  12. ^ "Coral Gunning". The Indian Listener: 665. 22 July 1937.
  13. ^ "Coral Gunning Meets With Success in England". Mirror. 12 February 1938. p. 19. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  14. ^ "Miss Coral Gunning Entertains 'Diggers'". Daily News. 16 April 1937. p. 7. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  15. ^ "Sang for the Soldiers; Coral Gunning's Popularity". Sunday Times. 19 January 1941. p. 19. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  16. ^ "Blitz Artists Here". Daily News. 7 June 1944. p. 14. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  17. ^ "W.A. Vocalist's Return". The West Australian. 8 November 1950. p. 19. Retrieved 3 January 2026.
  18. ^ Mallett, Ashley (5 September 1973). "A Messerschmitt Bullet Nearly Stopped Music on Wheels' Success". Hills Gazette. p. 9. Retrieved 3 January 2026 – via Trove.
  19. ^ Robinson, John (1980), Interviews with Coral Gunning, retrieved 4 January 2026
  20. ^ Coral Tottie Gunning papers Archived 20 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine, J S Battye Library of Western Australian History, Private Archives.
  21. ^ "Album Focus: Original Past Life" Archived 8 August 2025 at the Wayback Machine The Music (October 20, 2016).
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